only hope
by finish line
Summary: Sasuke/Sakura. AU. "I'll tell you I love you but you'll think I'm lying. That's why I'd rather say I love you and let you think I'm lying than say I don't love you and know for sure I'm lying. I love you." He said, "You're lying." She smiled. "See?"


**authored by **finish line

**only hope**

**»:«**

_There's a song that's inside of my soul  
It's the one that I tried to write over and over again  
I'm awake in the infinite cold  
But You sing to me over and over and over again_

**»:«**

He first met her when he came as her knight in shining armor, catching her when she fell off a tree at the local park. He cursed at her for apparent reasons (he dislocated the joints in his elbow from catching her, having it casted for one month), and yet she merely looked at him with innocence in the eyes.

"Fuck!" he cursed, placing her back on her feet. "What do you think are you doing, climbing on a tree then later on falling?"

He remembered how much he hated the look of her eyes — curious and offended — and they were so . . . so . . . _green_.

"I was trying to take a snapshot of the bird's nest," the (yet unnamed) girl reasoned out. "I can't get a very precise angle from below so I thought of climbing the tree and —"

"— then fall," continued Uchiha Sasuke, raking his right hand along his raven locks. Sighing, he let himself fall and sit on the grassy ground, knees bent with his arms atop said knees. "You risked climbing up that tree for the sake of a bird's nest snapshot? How preposterous."

"I take offense at that," the girl muttered, bending down in front of him. "I'm sorry, though. Are you hurt?"

At the sudden question, Sasuke looked away from the girl he had just caught and stared at his left elbow.

"Hn. This should be fine." And with that, he stood up and dusted off his pants. He looked at her and said, "Don't go climbing trees again. It's unhealthy."

Before he could turn around and walk away, the girl spoke up again.

"I'm Sakura," she had stated. There was a short pause and Sasuke looked up at the girl he had saved. "I'm Haruno Sakura and I'm wondering who you are, what's your name, what's your business here? And . . . I won't deny how beautiful you are."

Sasuke's eyes widened by a millimeter, stunned by a tad by the _pink_-haired girl's blunt statements. She even called him _beautiful_, an adjective he vaguely remember being said towards him by girls (fan-girls, he wanted to say).

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke — you're so blunt and it's annoying. I think you're annoying and I proved so that you really are annoying. My business is my business and you have no right to ask me that, you're just a stranger coming in my life. I take no compliment in your last words, by the way. I loathe blunt compliments."

And with just that, he left.

**»:«**

_So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray  
To be only Yours I pray  
To be only Yours I know now  
You're my only hope_

**»:«**

He never expected to see her once again after that, however. He was in the hospital for an errand given by his older brother, Itachi (who was the hospital's director and a doctor), when he saw her by the hematology and pulmonary section of the hospital.

"Uchiha-san?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder to find the same pink-haired girl he met at the local park a week had passed. He frowned, having met the annoyingly innocent girl.

"You again?" he questioned, turning full-body at her. "What's your business here?"

Haruno Sakura beamed at him. "My business is my business and you have no right to ask me that, you're just a stranger coming in my life," she said. When she noticed how he glared at her, she shrugged and continued, "I'm just restating what you have told me a week before. You think I've already forgotten that?"

"You caused this —" he referred to his casted right arm "— so I better have a rational answer and not something witty and annoying."

Sakura giggled before lightly touching his casted arm. "I'm sorry about this, Uchiha-san. I'm just trying to mark my teenage years, you know, enjoying it unlike you. I've got this rather perfect guess that you're so emotional and touchy you prefer to have your face deprived of expressions."

He glared.

"I'm here because," she started, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears, "I'm visiting a friend. How about you?"

At that, Sasuke smirked. Before he could speak, a beautiful nurse came over and tapped his shoulder.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" she greeted. "How are you doing?"

"Hn," was his mere reply before the nurse moved on giddily. He turned his attention back to Sakura who was staring at him with eyebrows raised.

"Would you believe me if I say that that nurse who greeted me is my girlfriend and I'm really here to visit her?" he asked.

Sakura stared at him, agape. "Uchiha-sa —"

"Nah, I'm lying. I'm here because I'm a doctor at this young age of seventeen."

The girl in front of him blinked. "Are you seriou —"

"That's another lie, you know," said Sasuke while shaking his head. "I can't believe you're easily convinced, by the way how your face looks like. I'm here because . . . because I'm dying, Sakura. I'm dying."

There was something in the look (indignant look, Sasuke denied) she gave him before they parted and right after knowing that it was another lie.

The young Uchiha just couldn't lay a finger on it.

**»:«**

_Sing to me the song of the stars  
Of your galaxy dancing and laughing and laughing again  
When it feels like my dreams are so far  
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again_

**»:«**

For the third time, they met again.

He found her sitting on the sandy ground of the shores of Konoha sea, staring off to space, probably contemplating on things while watching the waves of the sea.

"Never knew you to be the thinking type of girl," Sasuke pointed out while pocketing his hands. He advanced nearer to her and stood right beside her sitting figure. He looked down, expecting for a reply.

And just as he had expected, there came a reply.

"Never knew you to be the talkative type of guy, Uchiha-san," shot Sakura back. She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm thinking because I'm capable of doing so, Uchiha-san, and because I have brain to think and eyes to see, skin to touch and ears to hear, and of course, I have the heart to feel. That's why."

Sasuke merely watched her.

"And I guess, _Sasuke-kun _—" (It was her first, it was his first . . . first time to hear that name come out from her lips) "— you're talkative because you have a brain that's curious, eyes that observe, and hopefully, heart that questions. So I won't question you any longer."

There was silence that engulfed them both, save for the sound of the clashing waves.

"I'll tell you I love you."

Sasuke's head snapped to look at her in astonishment. "_What_?"

"You'll think I'm lying, that's why I'd rather say I love you and let you think I'm lying than say I don't love you and know for sure I'm lying. I love you."

The lad smirked and shook his head, finding some sort of amusement. "You're lying," he said before he could catch his words. His eyes widened.

It seemed that only this girl beside him could stun him down to hell.

"See?" Sakura replied, laughing her head off.

**»:«**

_So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray  
To be only Yours I pray  
To be only Yours I know now  
You're my only hope_

**»:«**

They see each other again for so many times after that, as though it was some regular routine that was a constant part of his life — of _their _life.

They would converse endlessly until they realize it was late at night; she would laugh at his dry humor and he would smirk at her quite hilarious laughter (a bray of a donkey, he observed).

There was one meeting he could never forget. It was that night when she . . .

"What's your dream, Sasuke-kun?" inquired Sakura, cocking her head to the side. "I'm curious about what someone like you would dream."

Sasuke merely sighed and closed his eyes. "Dream what you want to dream," he said, catching Sakura off guard. "Go where you want to go. Be what you want to be . . . because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want in life."

The pink-haired girl giggled and leaned her head on Sasuke's shoulder. "I dream for the brightest star to land on my palm . . . tonight."

The lad raised an eyebrow. "What kind of dream is that?"

"It's a dream I want to dream. It's also the place I want to go . . . and the one I want to be. We oftentimes don't see the reason why we don't get what we want, but in the end of it all, we realize that what we wanted wasn't meant for us after all — everything happens for a reason, I realized."

"I don't see where this is going."

Sakura ignored him and sighed. "There's always a reason why we have to move on, when we wanted to say good-bye to the feelings we wanted to stay forever, for love will have tos et its wings free and find the place where it belongs."

Sasuke frowned. He didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Sakura, answer me. Where is this conversation going?"

She smiled. "Somewhere beyond the galaxies or perhaps beyond the pit of Tartarus? Or perhaps it'll go with the sunset."

"Sakura—" Before Sasuke could finish, his eyes enlarged (he already let himself expose his shock), getting the gist Sakura wanted to point out.

Sakura's eyes blurred and with a heavy breath, she mouthed, "I'm dying, Sasuke. I'm dying. I'm gonna die and I don't want to I'm scared I want you near me."

"That's a lie," was all the lad could reply. But deep down, he knew it was real.

". . ."

". . ."

And it hurt to know it was the truth.

". . ."

"Sasuke-kun, do you know that strength is not measured by how strong you hold on but by how you let go?"

". . ."

"Sometimes I thought . . . I have to let go of my life, too, Sasuke-kun."

**»:«**

_I give You my destiny  
I'm giving You all of me  
I want your symphony  
Singing in all that I am  
At the top of my lungs  
I'm giving it back_

**»:«**

Dear Kami-sama,

I found out that the hardest part of loving is when you can only view the person you love from a distance and not being able to hold his hand, embrace him tight, and tell him how you love him.

Because to him, you're just a friend.

_Lie #01. She didn't climb up that tree to take a snapshot of a simple bird's nest. She did it to take a snapshot of him._

I want him to realize that . . . he has to take care of the person he loves, if it isn't me. Never tell lies or attempt to hurt them because he won't know how important she is unless she is out of his life . . .

Hopefully, me.

_Fact #01. She turned indignant when he said he was dying. He didn't know the importance of life. He'll never know._

I realized, meanwhile, that every step I took was a step I tread on just to find him.

_Lie #02. She never loved him. She is _in love with him.

We all want to fall in love.

Why?

Because that experience makes us feel completely alive where every sense is heightened, every motion is magnified and our everyday reality is shattered, and we are flying to the heavens. It may only last a moment, an hour, an afternoon. But that doesn't diminish its value because we are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives.

_Fact #02. She was ready to let go even before she met him._

I'll never regret anything.

Because . . . when loving someone, never regret what you do. Only regret what you didn't do.

_Lie #03. She wasn't visiting a friend that day at the hospital. She was visiting fate. She was visiting death._

Sincerely,

Sakura

**»:«**

_So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray  
To be only Yours I pray  
To be only Yours I know now  
You're my only hope_

**»:«**

Your love, the place I'd want to go.

Your eyes, the mystery that I want to know.

Your smile, the magic that I want to learn.

Sakura, your love, the flame that makes me burn.

Sakura, you weren't just a friend.

Sakura, I never tell lies. I'm just being Sasuke. The one you know, the one you have fallen in love with.

Every step I take was to find you, too.

Sakura, you're the treasure that will never fade in my life.

There's one thing I regret, Sakura, unlike you.

I didn't let you know these things before you disappear in my life.

There are only two words I keep writing—words that didn't make sense to me at first but later I understood as I read them upside-down.

noh ssiw (_read it updside-down_).

**»:«**

End

**»:«**

**authored by **finish line


End file.
